COMPLEXITY
Complexity goes hand in hand with excess in the narratives that this wiki is in charge to examine. Both, long films and miniseries, insofar as their nature means going beyond the limits of the conventions, experiment with altered times. Abundance of flashback, the physical changes of the characters, and the temporal leaps are all features that one can find in syntagms of excess. Within those film texts there are several facets of complexity which are worth analyzing. The first layer is created by the challenges to the temporal structure. In a very similar way, excessive narratives are playing with audience's expectations as much as the so called mind-game films, a term used by Thomas Elsaesser. '' (Lars von Trier, 2013)]] However, it is necessary an initial explanatory note in order to emphasize that syntagms of excess are more sensorial than cerebral, and therefore, the epithet of mind-game does not fully suits them. In any case, both concepts imply that time is not something that is there to be reorder by the spectator. On the contrary, it is a pleasure for the audience to be aware of this disorder and experience it. Since excess narratives are profoundly sensed through the body, the traces of temporal changes in the characters are pivotal in the relationship text/spectator. Altered times are part of an unconventional narration that rejects linearity and chronology, either because it is the fruit of the memory, the mental illness (what Elsaesser calls productive pathologies), or the conscious desire of deceit. Different times coincide through the narration or sometimes within the frame (like in the picture above), but they do not imply the necessity of being reordered. Steve Johnson in his book Everything Good is Bad for You, makes a strong statement in favor of popular culture by saying that because of the exposure to it, society is getting smarter. According to him, as television and videogames are becoming more complex, spectators are experiencing cognitive improvements and consequently, they are more demanding. Current television is characterized by “multiple threading” narratives with an abundance of plot and subplots. Johnson also argues that TV series are full of “flashing arrows”, signposts in order to keep track of the narrative, in consonance with Elsaesser's description of mind-game films. Christian Metz, in his examination of film as a language, argues that audiovisual narratives have their own codes to be "decoded" and interpreted by the spectator. In this case, syntagms of excess have their own codes or flashing arrows that are pointing to the general meaning of the film in order to provide the general sensation of the excess, enriched by a complex narrative. An example of productive pathology, which differs from Elsaesser's conception, but functions at the same level, is Nymphomaniac. In the movie, Joe finds in her deviation of the conventional behavior an excuse for telling a long and moral story. Furthermore, by shifting the emphasis from the mind to the body, the narrative turns to a “body-game” structure, not a mind-game one, where nymphomania is determining the events and channeling the emotions to the body of the spectator. Jason Mittell is probably one the authors who have written more about complexity in film and television narrative. According to him, the shift from episodic storytelling to on-going plots results in complex temporal structures and complex characters; what he defines as complex TV. It is, without a doubt, through this lens which syntagms of excess have to be analyzed. Thus, it is useful to identify the forces that tie the episodical moments of the narrative to the ongoing plots of the long general system. Mittell uses the term narrative special effect, to explain a device that is oriented to amaze the spectator, normally through revelation. Complex TV, and subsequently the works that share the same logic, are characterized by this kind of device. In a long narrative, there is more time to develop this narrative special effect, as a recurrent motif. For instance, the fast-pace temporal summary editing is a trope in many syntagms of excess. A curious example, far from the hegemonic geographic ambit, is Gangs of Wasseypur. In this case, the songs operate as an important mechanism of contraction. Works Cited: Elsaesser, Thomas: "Mind-Game Films" In Buckland, Warren (ed.) Puzzle Films: Complex Storytelling in Contemporary Cinema. ''Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. pp. 13-41 Johnson, Steven: ''Everything Bad is Good for You. New York: Riverhead Books, 2005 Metz, Christian. Film Language: A Semiotics of Cinema. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991 Mittell, Jason: Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Storytelling. New York: New York University Press, 2015 Category:Film Category:Film History Category:Cinema Category:TV Series Category:TV Category:TV Shows Category:Complex TV Category:Complex Narrative Category:Jasson Mittell Category:Steven Johnson Category:Thomas Elsaesser Category:Mind-Game Films